In the field of packaging integrated circuits, a recurring problem has been that of increasing the density of connections to keep up with the constant shrinkage of dimensions on the integrated circuit chips.
Packaging technology has not been able to adopt the technology of ICs wholesale for a number of reasons, including cost and the difficulty of adapting the sub-microscopic dimensions of integrated circuit technology to the macroscopic environment in which packages operate.
In the particular case of wire-bond technology, the mechanical requirements of the wire-bond machines set requirements of strength and thus of dimension on the wires. The dimensional requirements on the wires impose corresponding requirements on the bond pads to which the wires are bonded.
On solution that has been used in the art is to place one or more continuous rings close in to the circuit to carry the DC power (ground, Vdd, etc.) all around the circuit so that it can be tapped into at any location. Since the rings are continuous, placement accuracy for a bond is not a concern. These rings are connected by one or more vias to wide (and therefore low-inductance) conductors positioned at lower levels in a multi-level package.
Signal connections are made further out from the chip along a set of transverse axes extending perpendicular to the chip edges. Commonly, the pitch of contacts is increased as the distance out from the chip increases, so that more space is available to provide for greater tolerance in making wire-bond connections and to route signal lines between the bond pads.
Those skilled in the art understand that, other things being equal, it is preferable if the pitch of the package bond pads matches the pitch on the chip bond pads. Since the package bond pads need to be wider, that means various schemes to pack more than one package bond pad in the space taken by a chip bond pad.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,638 shows a multi-tier package in which the die is located at the bottom of a set of tiers of package bond pads. The bond pads are arranged so that the pads in the outermost row overlap the die pads in an adjacent group. This arrangement inherently causes the bond wires to be non-perpendicular to the chip. It also suffers from increased inductance due to relatively long bond wires.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,906 also shows a multi-tier package in which the die is located at the bottom of a set of tiers of package bond pads. In this case, the bottom level contains several integrated circuits that are connected to one another by wire bonds. This arrangement inherently causes the bond wires to be non-perpendicular to the chip. It also suffers from increased inductance due to relatively long bond wires.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,168 shows an arrangement in which the wires have large angles from the perpendicular. as well as routing signal lines underneath the die.